Hero of the week

Lee Ryder: A tough one on the Newcastle front after a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal.

But credit should go to the FA Youth Cup squad for beating Millwall in round three and I’m going to try to tweak the rules and nominate the whole team for winning 3-1 at a tough old venue the New Den.

Dave Watson has done a fantastic job with the youth team and it’s good to see them in the fourth round.

Neil Cameron: Thierry Henry. He was one of the greatest players I have ever seen and on the day of his retirement, I spent a long time watch his clips on YouTube. What a player.

Mal Robinson: Ally McCoist. A very strange choice you may think, but the man is under huge amounts of pressure at Rangers. He is by no means manager of the year, however I feel he has done a job for Rangers over the past two seasons in very trying circumstances.

Add to this he is a club legend who has come in for some very harsh stick from Rangers fans and does not deserve that. So he is my hero of the week for handling the pressure with a smile to TV cameras and to give him a bit of moral support.

Steve Brown: Thierry Henry. What a player!

Stuart Rayner: New South Wales cricketer Sean Abbott, who took a career-best 6-14 bowling for the first time since his involvement in the accident which killed Phillip Hughes. The Australia v India Test match showed Aussie cricket has moved on well, but it was Abbott’s performance at the Sydney Cricket Ground which cheered me up the most last week.

Craig Johns: Isaac Macleod who impressed winning his professional boxing debut in Sheffield this weekend. Big future ahead for this former amateur star.

Villain of the week

Lee Ryder: The TV broadcasters for failing to see the romance of the cup with Blyth v Birmingham or West Brom v Gateshead.

Neil Cameron: Jose Mourinho. As he is every week. His players never dive, don’t you know.

Mal Robinson: Jozy Altidore for that miss against West Ham - shocking.

Steve Brown: FIFA - burying Michael Garcia’s appeal against the summary of his own investigation into corruption, and their heads in the sand.

Stuart Rayner: Every single footballer, whether on the local park or in the Premier League, who dived last week. You’re spoiling the greatest game on earth, you pillocks.

Craig Johns: The people behind the decision to snub Blyth Spartans’ FA Cup third round tie from live TV coverage. Teams like Blyth making it this far in the competition is what it is all about and instead we’ll have to watch Everton v West Ham - a game that happens twice a season anyway in the Premier League with nothing special about it.

Do you agree with Lewis Hamilton getting the Sports Personality Of The Year award? If not, who would you have rather have seen it go to?

Lee Ryder: I would have preferred to see Rory McIIroy take the prize as well as Hamilton did to earn the award.

Neil Cameron: Formula One is awful. Hamilton doesn’t have a personality. So that’s a no. Rory McIlroy is the best golfer since Tiger Woods.

Mal Robinson: I think it is a good shout. He has done the business this year on the track so good luck to him.

Steve Brown: No, it should have been Rory McIlroy. Then again, it’s a stupid, pointless, misnomer of an award.

Stuart Rayner: I would have voted for Rory McIlroy but hey, that’s democracy for you. Until plans for the coup which will see me installed as Britain’s tyrannical dictator are completed (I was a bit busy with Christmas shopping last week) we just have to put up with the fact that democracy means everyone gets a say, whether they’re a mastermind or a moron.

Having a world champion win that award is fair enough, really.

Craig Johns: As a big boxing fan I was rooting for Carl Froch who I had the honour of interviewing earlier this year. He himself said he didn’t deserve to win it though, so failing that I’d of preferred Rory McIlroy but the public voted so it’s hard to argue.

If you had to pick from the past winners, who is your favourite all-time winner of the SPOTY award?

Lee Ryder: It was a great achievement for Gazza when he won it after the 1990 World Cup – tournament that brings back so many great memories.

Neil Cameron: Bradley Wiggins is Britain’s greatest ever sportsman and he has a genuine personality - so him. A close second would be AP McCoy

Mal Robinson: Sir Bradley Wiggins. He is a bit of a geezer and down to earth and does not court the limelight, plus what he achieved was not to be sniffed at so Wiggins for me.

Steve Brown: Princess Anne. She beat George Best!

Stuart Rayner: Paul Gascoigne in 1990. I stopped watching it a few years later but the young Stu was quite happy with that choice.

Craig Johns: Sir Henry Cooper was the first (and one of just three) to win it twice. The boxer fought Muhammed Ali twice and knocked him down in the first fight but ultimately lost both. Years later Ali would famously admit Cooper “had hit him so hard that his ancestors in Africa felt it”.

Which sporting event are you most looking forward to in the next seven days?

Lee Ryder: Derbies are always tense affairs but the prospect of winning them is enticing. Newcastle will obviously try to win both games, including the League Cup tie this week. Seeing off Sunderland is always sweet and Newcastle owe their rivals one that’s for sure.

Let’s win both games.

Neil Cameron: The derby. What else? It’s great fun watching grown men and women go through hell at a match. But that’s because I am a bit sick.

Mal Robinson: It has to be the Tyne-Wear derby, I don’t think I need to explain why.

Steve Brown: Shildon v Guisborough on Saturday should be decent but, yes, it’s all about the derby. I can confirm the Turks [his local bar] WILL be selling alcohol.

Stuart Rayner: I haven’t checked the small print but I’m pretty sure I’m contractually obliged to say the Tyne-Wear derby, which is fine because it should be a good one.

Newcastle United and particularly Alan Pardew need a win to shut the Sunderland fans up, the Black Cats just need to jog their memory as to what winning feels like.

But the people who need a good derby most of all are the fans. The police have shown an unusual level of trust in them this year and it’s really, really important they’re not made to regret it. Seriously, if you’re going I know you won’t mess this up, but try to make sure those with you don’t either.

Craig Johns: This will be my first Tyne-Wear derby as a journalist. The whole day is going to be special for me.